Loot boxes in video games will not be banned in the UK, despite a government consultation finding evidence of a "consistent" association between the features and problem gambling. Loot boxes have attracted comparison with gambling because they allow players to spend money to unlock in-game rewards, such as special characters, weapons or outfits, without knowing what they will get. The features, popular in games such as Call of Duty and the Fifa football series, were effectively banned in Belgium in 2018, but the culture minister, Nadine Dorries, said the UK would not follow suit. Instead, after a 22-month consultation, she said the government would discuss tougher "industry-led" protections with the UK's £7bn gaming sector, drawing allegations from one expert that "foxes are guarding the hen house". Legislating to impose curbs or a prohibition on loot boxes as part of an expected overhaul of the UK's gambling laws could have "unintended consequences", Dorries said.

Years ago, while on vacation in the Northwest, my husband and I rented a room in the home of a middle-aged couple, one of whom had recently retired. The house was old, beautiful, and cozily laden with objects that signalled domestic inertia. It sat on a lush, wild sprawl of farmland that immediately inspired fantasies of leaving San Francisco and our tech jobs, foraging for mushrooms, administering to septic systems, and turning over soil. One morning over breakfast, conversation shifted to our host's retirement. He was glad to have more time at home with his wife and their dog.

As he entered Hong Kong Supermarket, Sam Lin scanned text messages from his wife instructing him how many red envelopes to buy. Three dozen, she wrote -- and make them large, to fit checks rather than folded wads of cash. Lin's nephews, nieces and in-laws will not have the thrill of pulling crisp bills out of their red Lunar New Year good luck envelopes when the Year of the Ox begins Friday. Normally, Lin goes to his credit union weeks ahead of the holiday to pre-order new bills -- a total of $900 to $1,000 for the kids and elders in his extended family. But with the possibility that the coronavirus could be lurking on $20 or $100 bills, Lin is one of many Asian Americans forgoing traditional cash to ring in the festivities.

Around one in six children steal money from their parents to pay for video game loot boxes – in-game'treasure chests' that award players random virtual prizes. In a survey of British teen and young adult gamers, Gambling Health Alliance (GHA) found 15 per cent had taken money from parents without permission to buy loot boxes. Overall, one in ten – 11 per cent – had used their parents' credit or debit cards to fund their loot box purchases, while 9 per cent had borrowed money they couldn't repay for the addictive in-game feature. Three young gamers' loot box buying habits resulted in their families having to re-mortgage their homes to cover the costs, according to the study. GHA is currently putting pressure on the UK government to class loot boxes in video games as a form of gambling.

There's plenty of news right now about how people are trying to make real money through video games, and not just by trying to get a taste of that Ninja game-streaming fortune. Most recently, people are selling items for hard cash inside the new Animal Crossing: New Horizons. As the coronavirus takes a hammer to the economy and a number of people are at risk of penury, selling goods inside the game seems like a good idea. But while there's plenty of hype about the potential for virtual economies to thrive as the real-world ones collapse, the truth is a little different. If you're unfamiliar, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a sim game for the Nintendo Switch in which you build a life for yourself in a community of adorable, anthropomorphic animals. You fish, grow fruit, craft tools and furniture while working to improve your island home.

Amid severe labor shortages, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to perform human tasks is sure to grow, and DJI, the world's biggest drone-maker, is ready to respond, the firm's Japan head said. Drones for industrial uses ranging from agriculture to infrastructure maintenance and security are becoming more popular, said Allen Wu, DJI's head of Japan operations. But he said he is doubtful about the potential for drone-based product delivery. "For quite some time, we've figured that our main market in Japan is industrial, so our team has been focusing on it more," Wu said in an interview Wednesday. Shenzhen-based SZ DJI Technology Co. dominates the global drone market and according to reports is estimated to have a market share of more than 70 percent.

So why exactly are AI researchers building complex systems to generate slightly wonky-looking pictures of bedrooms? The idea is that if you can generate pictures of something, you must have an understanding of it. You instantly know this is a picture of a dog -- a furry thing with four legs and a tail. But to a computer, the picture is just a grid of numbers representing the color of each pixel. The computer has no understanding that the picture represents a concept.

Video games that allow players to buy digital items using real money must now carry a special warning icon on the box under new rules designed to stop children unwittingly spending hundreds on in-game purchases. The new warning icon -- a hand holding a credit card -- will appear on game boxes alongside existing warnings for other dangerous content, including references to sex and drugs, violence, bad language, gambling and discrimination. The new warning has been created by the Pan European Game Information (Pegi) organisation, which provides game ratings for most of Europe, including the UK. It will appear on video game boxes later this year, ready for Christmas, Pegi says. Many popular games, including popular football simulator Fifa and multiplayer shooter Fortnite, now offer players the chance to buy in-game items.

"Loot boxes are like scratch-off cards: you open one out of curiosity, get a little prize, think'darn, maybe next time,' and then it just turns into a habit," says Brian. "I got a big prize with my first $20 and thought, 'Hey, maybe I'll get something good again,' and spent another $5 next week, and then $5 more. It's a disturbingly easy trap to fall into." Brian (not his real name), a 25-year-old American Reddit user who responded to a Guardian call-out, is one of millions of players who buy "loot boxes", lucky-dip boxes that cost real money and yield random virtual rewards. Loot boxes have attracted controversy and comparisons to gambling in recent months, prompting countries including Belgium and the Netherlands to determine that their inclusion in popular games such as Fifa, Overwatch and Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius contravenes local gambling legislation. Now, politicians and gambling-awareness organisations in the UK are calling for regulation, too.

Yesterday, the Belgian minister of justice, Koen Greens, announced the result of an investigation that the country's Gaming Commission conducted into video game "loot boxes", a mechanic that lets players pay real money for a chance at winning virtual items. It found that three popular games – Overwatch, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Fifa 18 – were in violation of gambling legislation. This is a significant finding, because controversy over loot boxes has been raging for at least six months: are they actually a form of gambling? Worse, are they a form of gambling that is particularly appealing to children? Belgium's Gaming Commission has decided that, yes, they are, and the publishers in question should remove loot boxes from their games or face fines.